Announcement: Community Update

[Artisan]

Greetings everyone,

We would like to announce changes in official BC.org administrative stance regarding server summits and expansion of the BC.org community. These changes have come after careful consideration and observation over the last few months of interest as well as effects of previous changes, and they are not a result of any individual's actions.

1) We will no longer be officially sponsoring the monthly Begeren Colony summits. This means that members of the admin team may or may not attend the summits, but we are not guaranteed to do so. Community members are free to attend or not attend the summits as well, but are not required to do so.

2) Any changes the Admin team makes for the BC.org website will be for the sake of and at the request of current BC.org members. Although we had previously considered particular changes at the request of server summit participants, we will now no longer implement them unless current active members have sufficient interest in their implementation.

3) We would like to thank @Lurilla, @Dezzrevas, and @Slavish for their help and their work for the website over the past months. We continue to encourage their participation and value their contribution on the website, including leading and arrangement of Begeren Colony server summits! However, for various reasons, they will be stepping down and no longer hold administrative roles on BC.org at this time.

4) We have a new Arbiter: @recoveringgeek will be joining the site moderation team! Thank you for your help!

5) @Navigator will be the Administrative account for @Cordae. All future administrative inquiries should be directed toward Navigator, and not Cordae. Thank you!

6) The Server Development subforum will still be present and available for use of any member of the BC.org community.

Again, as noted above, these changes have been made as an Admin team decision after long observation and consideration. We encourage everyone in the community to participate or not participate in various server events and developments as per their interests. We as an Admin team for begerencolony.org have a goal of serving those who use this website to the best of our ability, and these changes are an effort on our part to direct our limited time and resources to directions where it would be most useful and beneficial.

Thank you all for your understanding!

@Artisan, @Navigator
@Aylaa, @livia, @recoveringgeek
BC.org Admin/Moderation Team

[Crimsen]

Good to read. Thanks for all the hard work you do!

[Imazi]

Yes, thank you for the efforts and the update. :)

[blingdenston]

Many thanks for all your effort and care!  I hope that the new folks who've come to us continue to use, enjoy, and participate in this site, despite the change!

[Audaine]

Shame to see @Dezzrevas, @Lurilla and @Slavish go. Hope you three stick around! It'd be a shame to see you all disappear. See more and more folks disappear these days.

Congratulations to SoberingUpGeek! I figured you for the 'Wise-and-just' type of person; I figure you'll fit the bill of Arbiter-hood nicely.

@Cordae, I'm upset you didn't choose any of the other names we came up with.

[Semah]

Cordae executes a Class 1 Maneuver! It's super-effective!

[Auryn]

I can't help but feel this is a step backwards, with no new blood from the newer players and playergroups represented in the admin team any longer. It seems like we were searching for more unity and communication for the server and now we're just right back to alienating anyone who isn't a member of the forums. I hope that isn't actually the case?

(Note I'm not trying to be snippy, this is an actual concern. We tried pretty hard to bring the community together, and from my perspective this looks like a division because the old and the new could not agree.)

[Semah]

Dammit, now I have to follow up on my joke post about Cordae's admin name with actual opinion.

My impression is that the planned extensions under Bolas were an over-extension and an over-promise, especially given that we no longer have our own Benevolent Dictator/CodeMonkey. My impression is that the leftover requirements to "reach out to" and "satisfy" and "meet the needs of" external communities were running the staff ragged and making it difficult to get anything done.  So I don't see this as a step backward; I see it as a strategic withdrawal from unreasonable requirements and insane expectations.

Bolas wrote a check that BC.org couldn't cash once he lost his fucks. The attempt to pay it down has had enormous cost, mostly invisible to the average BC.org user. The community at large underestimates, drastically, the amount of mental and emotional energy the staff puts in day to day. We whine and we cajole and we bitch and moan and post passive-aggressive rants (my specialty!) and then expect them to do even more because we want our site to be the one-stop shop for everything BC.

But it doesn't have to be. This change is a good thing.

[Auryn]

Dammit, now I have to follow up on my joke post about Cordae's admin name with actual opinion.

My impression is that the planned extensions under Bolas were an over-extension and an over-promise, especially given that we no longer have our own Benevolent Dictator/CodeMonkey. My impression is that the leftover requirements to "reach out to" and "satisfy" and "meet the needs of" external communities were running the staff ragged and making it difficult to get anything done.  So I don't see this as a step backward; I see it as a strategic withdrawal from unreasonable requirements and insane expectations.

Bolas wrote a check that BC.org couldn't cash once he lost his fucks. The attempt to pay it down has had enormous cost, mostly invisible to the average BC.org user. The community at large underestimates, drastically, the amount of mental and emotional energy the staff puts in day to day. We whine and we cajole and we bitch and moan and post passive-aggressive rants (my specialty!) and then expect them to do even more because we want our site to be the one-stop shop for everything BC.

But it doesn't have to be. This change is a good thing.

Oh I have no doubt our Benevolent Dictator (TM) put the place in a pickle. He messed up a lot of things and blamed everyone else for it, and uuh... my opinion of people who write bouncing cheques tends to be that they are dealt with with violence >.> though that might just be my Greek background talking...

I definitely don't doubt the hard work that is being put into the site by the current team, let me stress that, but it's sad to see new members go who could have offered more help, and a fresh look at the running of the place? That's my only erring.

[Imazi]

While I know getting more help is always no small part of the battle, perhap there is a way to make the load lighter on things we can all chip in on. I know some things require specialized skills, but I'm sure many of us would help where we can in the unskilled department.

However, I would assume self regulating ourselves would probably help the people in the background greatly. The less time they have to devote to making sure we all play nice and civil with each other the more time they have for other things.

[recoveringgeek]

I can't help but feel this is a step backwards, with no new blood from the newer players and playergroups represented in the admin team any longer.

New blood will come based on the appeal and accessibility of Star Wars: The Old Republic as a Massively Multiplayer Online game, and, their desire to participate in possibly one of the last standing role-playing driven communities in support of that game.

It seems like we were searching for more unity and communication for the server and now we're just right back to alienating anyone who isn't a member of the forums.

This is the epitome of communication. This Adminstration Team no longer has the resources available to pursue this larger endeavour. Resources includes Time, Finances, and Emotional Support.

(We tried pretty hard to bring the community together, and from my perspective this looks like a division because the old and the new could not agree.)

If those new players did not reach a consensus, or, did not even participate in the process, then yes, it is an acknowledgement that this goal is no longer worth pursuing.

So I don't see this as a step backward; I see it as a strategic withdrawal from unreasonable requirements and insane expectations.

Exactly this.

Bolas wrote a check that BC.org couldn't cash once he lost his fucks.

He messed up a lot of things and blamed everyone else for it,

Let's be absolutely clear. This thread, nor any other, is not a place where Bolas, or any other site member or Administrator is to be blamed for any choices or decisions anyone else has made.

but it's sad to see new members go who could have offered more help, and a fresh look at the running of the place? That's my only erring.

If the only contribution those new members brought to the community, were to use our hard earned and in many cases donated resources to further their own gaming needs, without contributing an equal measure in return, then the begerencolony.org site has not lost anything by withdrawing our official support.

Community members are free - and encouraged - to pursue activities that bring more like-minded players to our site, and in support of this game.

[Auryn]

 @recoveringgeek , if all of that had been explained in the initial post then I probably wouldn't have brought up the concerns I had, because they would have already been answered. The post was ambiguous and the extra information provided now by @Semah and yourself is appreciated, and clears the picture up. No need to act like I'm a bad guy and attacking the mod team because that wasn't my intention at all.

[SivWysan]

Mixed feelings about all this, but sounds like the site Admin Team is making a fair decision with the resources and time we have.  I certainly plan to keep attending Server Summits and recruiting/welcoming as many folks as I can- but best to focus on our strengths and not try to be everything and do nothing well. 

[Sasmi]

(The following image is directed ONLY at the first post done by administration and there choice after evaluating the resources they have at their disposal.  It is not at any one person UNLESS stated otherwise.)
For the choice and to save bandwidth as it is an animate gif.

(The following image is directly ONLY at the announcement of @recoveringgeek being made an arbitrator.)

[Dezzrevas]

I can't help but feel this is a step backwards, with no new blood from the newer players and playergroups represented in the admin team any longer.

New blood will come based on the appeal and accessibility of Star Wars: The Old Republic as a Massively Multiplayer Online game, and, their desire to participate in possibly one of the last standing role-playing driven communities in support of that game.

It seems like we were searching for more unity and communication for the server and now we're just right back to alienating anyone who isn't a member of the forums.

This is the epitome of communication. This Adminstration Team no longer has the resources available to pursue this larger endeavour. Resources includes Time, Finances, and Emotional Support.

Respectfully it seems if the admin team is over taxed more people are needed not less. If the community doesn't have a programmer full time or otherwise consistently, it may be time to vet one from the community we have. But this is an admin decision of course and you would need to find someone you trust deeply. We should not let our community languish in the interim between progress and stagnation. The age old philosophy "Many hands make light work." shines quite poignantly in this situation don't you think?

(We tried pretty hard to bring the community together, and from my perspective this looks like a division because the old and the new could not agree.)

If those new players did not reach a consensus, or, did not even participate in the process, then yes, it is an acknowledgement that this goal is no longer worth pursuing.

So I don't see this as a step backward; I see it as a strategic withdrawal from unreasonable requirements and insane expectations.

Exactly this.

(BC.org commitment in the guidelines)
BegerenColony.org (BC.org) is dedicated to providing a place for players to gather and to offering tools that enhance the experience and opportunities of playing The Old Republic on the Begeren Colony Server. We strive to provide an environment that fosters collaboration with as many players as possible over as diverse a character base as can be found within the Old Republic time period.

No longer worth pursuing making it easier for every player including rpers to access the content they want to partake inside and outside of rp. Contrary to popular belief this community is not the only rp community on Begeren Colony. Would this community not benefit from interaction with those other rpers. One change that would help is to consolidate the in game channels for each aspect of the game and encouraging more people to use them. /cjoin krayt for ops, /cjoin warzones, , /cjoin gsf for galactic star fighter in addition to the rp channels supported by this site. These are ways to come to consensus and unity helping new and old players come together for content and rp fun. You never know who you will find to bring into your favored aspect of the game.

Bolas wrote a check that BC.org couldn't cash once he lost his fucks.

Once we lost our lead programmer for all the reasons that may be, the dynamic changed greatly yes. This disruption had shaken the summit committee and caused them to wonder how to proceed.  It also became very difficult to show that anything was moving forward site or otherwise. Progress on both sides slowed for months. I do appreciate the time and effort showed by my fellow admin team members, but there was a lot of confusion between the summit committee and the rest of the admin team on what would move forward or not. And for some on both sides that turned them off to cooperation. As we tried to continue things were agreed to then not followed through at all or fully by both groups. At this point we were asked to step down. After a long talk about continued cooperation suddenly it was cut on a whim as an admin team member disagreed with an opinion on a arbiter topic that I personally had an opinion on. A heated conversation in the least but not irreversible. Hope is not lost however there is always room to mend fences and continue down the positive path whether working hand in hand or separately for the betterment of this community.

but it's sad to see new members go who could have offered more help, and a fresh look at the running of the place? That's my only erring.

If the only contribution those new members brought to the community, were to use our hard earned and in many cases donated resources to further their own gaming needs, without contributing an equal measure in return, then the begerencolony.org site has not lost anything by withdrawing our official support.

This is a very very misunderstood opinion of the situation that unfolded. This type of biased inflammatory remark is why this site is seen by outsiders as unfriendly and confrontational. I and the Summit coordination committee however will continue to try and bring more activity and new blood to this community. We care about every player on the server and wish to bring the different aspects together in harmony. Regardless of how much resistance is given to bringing together any of the aspects we are going to work to that goal. In the end we will all benefit from that outcome.